The countdown just started to our Bay Area Opening Night on October 7th. This year, the Arab Film Festival is going bigger and bolder than ever: we are honored to host the US premiere of Clash, the Egyptian entry to the 2017 Oscars (Foreign Film Category). Tickets are on sale, and bound to sell out, so snatch yours here right away. And we will be making a special announcement on Opening Night, you don’t want to miss it!

Described as “bravura filmmaking with a kick-in-the-gut message” by the Hollywood Reporter, Clash was widely praised after opening Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival just a few months ago. Mohamed Diab’s film is set entirely within a padded wagon, traveling through the streets of Cairo in 2013, as supporters of Morsi’s toppled government and Muslim Brotherhood members fight each other inside and out. It is a hard hitting, intense action movie that will leave you at the edge of your seat, while challenging you.

It feels full circle to premiere Clash in San Francisco, as Diab developed it while on a film residency with the San Francisco Film Society in 2014, after winning the SFFS | KRF Filmmaking Grant.

The San Francisco Bay Area Arab Film Festival will take place from October 7th through the 16th. The full film schedule will be announced on September 14. Festival passes, and opening night tickets can be purchased here.

In Los Angeles, the festival will open on October 21st, with Lebanese comedy Very Big Shot from first-time writer-director Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya. It tells the story of a drug dealer who makes a movie to smuggle drugs, effectively making this a movie about making a movie, meta-jokes included. Tickets go fast, get yours today.

As David Fear eloquently wrote: “A bold new voice in Lebanese cinema, [Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya] comes rushing out of the gate with this sensational, social conscience-tinged shot of adrenaline.”

The Los Angeles Festival this year will run October 21st-23rd. Buy your pass and opening night ticket here.

The full festival line up will be announced soon…so make sure to sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t yet, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to keep up to date with all future announcements – use #AFF2016 and #AFFturns20.